A view of the Westferry Printworks site on the Isle of Dogs, east London
HOUSING Secretary Robert Jenrick bowed to pressure from Labour yesterday with a promise to release documents related to the Westferry planning scandal.
During an Opposition Day debate, he told MPs he would provide a timeline and explain his decision-making on the Westferry Printworks Development — which he approved 12 days before its developer gave £12,000 to the Conservative Party.
Labour brought the debate over the suspected “cash-for-favours” incident involving former press baron Richard “Dirty Des” Desmond.
Once derided by Farage as a ‘fraud,’ Jenrick has defected to Reform, bringing experience and political ruthlessness to the populist right — and raising the unsettling prospect of a Farage-led movement with a seasoned operative pulling the strings, says ANDREW MURRAY
It is rather strange that Labour continues to give prestigious roles to inappropriate, controversy-mired businessmen who are also major Tory donors. What could Labour possibly be hoping to get out of it, asks SOLOMON HUGHES